12-06-2023: There are several diverse ways that imperialism can conduct a colour revolution in a smaller country, in order to place its proxy forces at the head of a government which will acquiesce or blindly follow the dictates of its sponsors. In Thailand, Washington and its European sidekicks appear to have chosen the method of funding a whole series of opposition political parties and organisations, which eventually take power through the ballot box. To be sure, the pro-US Move Forward Party (MFP) in Thailand has some obstacles to overcome before it can form government but it is on its way to doing just that. Its May 14 election has seen the MFP win 151 seats, which means it could potentially form government in a coalition with the Pheu Thai Party (PTP) and a number of smaller parties.[1] The PTP is run from afar by fugitive billionaire former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who fled Thailand in 2008 to avoid facing time in jail.[2] In practice, both the MFP and the PTP are subordinate agents to the US state department and its endless interference and subversion of Thailand’s domestic political scene as part of its proxy war against Thailand’s giant neighbour, the socialistic People’s Republic of China (PRC).

NED at work

MFP front man and potential Prime Minister Pita Limjaroenrat may yet be disqualified, as Ruangkrai Leekitwattana, affiliated with the military linked Palang Pracharath Party, had filed a complaint with the Election Commission claiming that Pita violated the constitution. Thailand’s constitution bans House of Representatives candidates from owning stock in media companies, but Pita has inherited shares in a broadcaster from his father, according to Ruangkrai.[3] It is easy to understand why a politician should not also own parts of the media in the country in which they are running for electoral office. One way Washington avoids such self-regulation is simply by funding opposition media within Thailand, which then projects pro-US narratives. An example is Prachatai, which claims to be an independent news website, but is actually funded by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) – the public relations arm of the notorious CIA in the USA. The director of Prachatai is Chiranuch Premchaiporn, who is an NED fellow, and who was once sentenced to eight months in jail for failing to remove comments deemed offensive to the Thai monarchy from the Prachatai website.[4]

In 2021, the NED admits to spending in the vicinity of $3 million dollars to allegedly promote “human rights”, “democracy”, “civic engagement” and “labour standards”.[5] In reality, this money ends up in the pockets of front organisations such as the MFP, which then subverts the internal political and societal discourse to benefit US foreign policy objectives. The previous Thai government did make some moves to rein in this blatant interference in February 2021, by requiring NGOs (Non-Government Organisations) to simply register with the Interior Ministry. The then deputy government spokeswoman Rachada Dhnadirek stated that there were around 100 NGOs operating in Thailand, many of which were not registered and received money from other countries.[6] These rational moves turned out to be too little, too late, as the US backed parties spearheaded by the MFP rode a wave to electoral success in May.

Geopolitical moves in South-East Asia

The US ruling class is prepared to play the long game in Thailand, as in other countries in South East Asia. It has funnelled money to opposition forces for years there, and for many decades in neighbouring Myanmar to its West, and Malaysia to its South. The US state has already manoeuvred a pro-Washington government into power in Malaysia (headed by Anwar Ibrahim), and is aiding violent terrorism in Myanmar to the West after the Tatmadaw (Myanmar’s military) finally removed the Western government funded “National League for Democracy” (NLD) front headed by Aung Sung Suu Kyi in 2021.[7] The primary aim of all of this overt meddling is to contain and encircle the PRC with hostile regimes on its borders. These pro-US proxy governments are then used to break these countries away from trade and cooperation with the PRC, to provide a springboard for the break-up, and/or, the counter-revolutionary overthrow of Beijing. This of course means all out war, but the faltering capitalist US economy is in a dire state and cannot hope to compete against the largely state-owned and planned economy of the PRC, which is of a gargantuan scale given its population base of 1.4 billion people.

The PRC is Thailand’s largest trading partner[8], and is a central part of the China-Laos-Thailand corridor of the PRC’s flagship development Belt and Road Initiative.[9] Such cooperation benefits Thailand, South East Asia and the PRC, and this is why US-led imperialism seeks to undermine or sabotage it. The European Union (EU) also seeks to break Thailand away from cooperation with the Russian Federation, despite Thailand’s long standing friendly and stable relations with Russia. The EU has demanded that Thailand vote with the West in the United Nations (UN) in favour of Ukraine in NATO’s proxy war against Russia. Yet the previous Thai Prime Minister, Prayuth Chan-o-cha, had insisted that Thailand will maintain its neutrality in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which mirrors the position of the PRC.[10]

Now, Thailand’s friendly and stable relations with both the Russian Federation and the neighbouring People’s Republic of China are set to erode or be reversed. The New Atlas has been prominent in alterting the region and the world to the fact that the MFP has already vowed allegiance to US foreign policy[11] even before officially taking office. Two months before the Thai election in May Pita Limjaroenrat raised a demand for Russia to remove troops from Ukraine “immediately” – which would mean victory for NATO armed Nazis and further escalatory steps towards world war. The MFP had also urged the Thai government to place harsh sanctions on the State Administration Council in neighbouring Myanmar, and give unconditional welcome to refugees from Myanmar regardless of “Covid-19”.[12] Unfortunately, the governments of Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam and the PRC all fell victim to the nonsensical Covid narrative, or imposed it on their populations in an effort to stay the hand of imperialism. Yet Washington and Europe demand total ideological obeisance, not just a salute to one form of repression.

MFP vows to inflame terror in Myanmar

Little more than a week after the Thai election on May 14, a key foreign affairs advisor to the MFP stated that the incoming government will no longer be “quiet” on the political situation in neighbouring Myanmar. Fuadi Pitsuwan, who studied at the prestigious Harvard University and Georgetown University in Washington DC, indicated that Thailand will take a more active role the region and highlighted the importance of the Burma (the former name of Myanmar) Act.[13] The Burma Act is not Thai legislation, nor that of any country in South East Asia, but is in fact an act of the US Congress which authorises the US government to supply “non-lethal” aid to “resistance” forces in Myanmar. The Act enables the US government to impose sanctions on Myanmar’s state-owned Oil and Gas Enterprise, may prohibit the import of precious and semi-precious gemstones from Myanmar, and facilitates funding from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to “democracy activists” and “reconciliation efforts”.[14]

The overblown “democracy” rhetoric of the US government should give the game away. Washington is attempting nothing less than full scale regime change in Myanmar, as retaliation for the Tatmadaw moving to end the decades long interference in its domestic politics by removing the NLD amid substantiated claims of overt electoral fraud in the 2020 election.[15] Whatever the politics behind the Tatmadaw, the only way to prevent Myanmar being totally subverted to the dictates of both Washington and London, was to end the situation where no party could be elected apart from the imperialist backed NLD. In response, the US and UK governments have encouraged and activated violent terrorism on the ground, dressed up in the verbiage of “democracy” against “military rule”. There is even a fake self-declared government (National Unity Government – NUG) in exile, which directs and links with the absurdly named “People’s Defence Force” (PDF). The PDF has targeted any local government official, state electricity workers, and informants (any civilian which does not support the PDF) with assassination, usually by bombings in public places.[16]

Washington and London may not have to resort to violent terror in Thailand, as it has in Myanmar, if the MFP, leading an eight-party coalition, does form government in Bangkok. The MFP is already willing to subvert Thailand to the aims of imperialism in the region, which is primarily to contain and encircle the socialistic PRC with hostile governments. The aim is to not only sever vital trade and commercial links with China but provide a political and potentially even military staging post for sabotage of the critically needed economic development in South-East Asia. All of this runs directly counter to the interests of working people. While economic co-operation with the PRC is necessary, the working class needs the expansion of the economic gains of China’s 1949 revolution combined with a political resurgence of genuine socialism in the region. This requires a rupture from the strict “socialism in one country” dictates of the ruling Stalinist castes in the PRC, Vietnam and Laos via proletarian political revolutions, led by forces animated by authentic Leninism. As far away as this appears today, only the formation of vanguard parties animated by Permanent Revolution throughout South-East Asia can guide workers towards these goals. Imperialist interference – through elections, foreign funded parties and civil society groups, street and/or military violence – will only be finally brought to an end with proletarian rule.

WORKERS  LEAGUE

www.redfireonline.com

E: workersleague@protonmail.com

[1] www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/5/14/thailand-election-results-what-we-know-so-far (07-06-2023)

[2] https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2023/03/86b301c0f581-ex-pm-thaksin-vows-to-return-to-thailand-post-election-face-jail-time.html (07-06-2023)

[3] www.asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Thai-election/Thai-PM-hopeful-fights-accusation-of-election-wrongdoing (07-06-2023)

[4] www.ned.org/fellows/ms-chiranuch-premchaiporn/ (07-06-2023)

[5] www.ned.org/region/asia/thailand-2021/ (07-06-2023)

[6] www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2073783/govt-to-regulate-all-ngos (07-06-2023)

[7] www.landdestroyer.blogspot.com/search/label/Thailand (07-06-2023)

[8] www.atlas.cid.harvard.edu/explore?country=216&queryLevel=location&product=undefined&year.. (07-06-2023)

[9] www.journal-neo.org/2021/07/13/belt-road-the-china-laos-thailand-corridor/ (07-06-2023)

[10] www.journal-neo.org/2022/03/03/west-pressures-thailand-to-take-their-side-against-russia/ (07-06-2023)

[11] www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDLmjxcXATU (10-06-2023)

[12] https://thediplomat.com/2022/03/what-would-thailands-foreign-policy-look-like-under-pita-limjaroenrats-leadership/ (07-06-2023)

[13] www.irrawaddy.com/news/the-world-myanmar/thailand-will-no-longer-be-quiet-on-myanmar-incoming-coalition.html (10-06-2023)

[14] www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/2937 (10-06-2023)

[15] www.thestar.com/news/world/asia/2021/11/16/myanmar-election-body-charges-suu-kyi-with-electoral-fraud.html (10-06-2023)

[16] www.redfireonline.com/2021/11/22/fake-government-fuels-terrorism-in-myanmar/ (10-06-2023)

Image: Pita Limjaroenrat (centre) launches the Western backed Kao Klai (Move Forward) Party in 2020, after the dissolution of the Future Forward Party in Thailand. http://www.thaipbsworld.com